FOI documents reveal plan to skip federal environmental approvals for some projects

The Morrison government is considering whether a little-known section of national environmental laws could be used to allow developments in some parts of the country to proceed without the need for federal approval.

The move, revealed in documents released to Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws, could allow the commonwealth to reduce its role in environmental decision-making without needing support for a bill to transfer power to the states and territories which has been blocked by the Senate since last year.

Since then, legislation that would clear the way for states and territories to take responsibility for environmental decisions under the act has failed to gain enough support in the Senate, in part because the Morrison government has not adopted a set of national environmental standards recommended by Samuel (instead drafting a weaker version of its own).

Under national laws, the environment minister may create what is known as a regional plan.

These plans are only vaguely described in the act as covering a broad range of biodiversity, social and economic factors and have previously only been used in marine areas to guide conservation and industrial activities.

Another section of the act, known as section 37A, allows the federal environment minister to declare certain development activities are exempt from the requirement to gain federal environmental approval where those projects are covered by a regional plan.

Since late last year, it has been consulting several stakeholders about the design of a framework for regional plans, among them state governments, environment and industry groups.

The documents have raised concern among environmental groups involved in the consultation, several of whom are supportive of regional approaches to conservation if they are used to improve the environment of a whole area, such as by identifying and protecting critical habitat.

Members of the threatened species scientific committee have also previously raised regional planning as a tool that could be used to address threats and environmental decline at a landscape level.

This could include making it simpler for land-use sectors, particularly farmers, to seek advice on and understand their obligations under the law. Landscape-scale planning could include incentives for farmers who manage the environment, Ragg said.

He said the NFF did not support the standards proposed by Samuel.

The location would be selected shortly, potentially in time for a pre-election announcement. However, a Senate estimates hearing heard on Monday that conversations with a state or territory had not yet advanced.